This invention relates to a seat. In particular, this invention relates to a passenger seat, a passenger seat group and an aircraft with a corresponding passenger seat or with a corresponding passenger seat group.
Passenger seats in means of transportation are important safeguards in dangerous situations and comfort factors for accommodating travelers. Especially in commercial aircraft, accommodating the carry on luggage of travelers is very important. On short and medium distance flights, many passengers do not want to check in their luggage so as to avoid the wait while boarding and disembarking, and prevent loss of luggage. On long-distance flights, personal articles are increasingly needed for work and entertainment, or for persona use; in addition, the traveler would very frequently also like to have a complete change of clothes at his/her disposal, since the climatic conditions at the destination most often vary. Thus, it is important that a passenger has access to her/his personal articles, also during a flight.
In order to give the passengers more free space, storage compartments were provided over the seats for carry on luggage, which can also hold outerwear. These luggage racks pose additional risks if the structural integrity of the luggage compartments should fail during a plane crash. Given the overhead position, passengers are endangered by falling luggage items or the luggage compartments themselves. In addition, falling fragments or pieces of luggage can impede or block escape routes. These risks become significantly greater still when the luggage compartments are improperly overloaded. In many parts of the world, it is all but commonplace to bring precisely the luggage items into the passenger cabin and stow them in the hat racks, e.g., those that cannot be checked in due to weight, contents, personal importance, etc.
The luggage compartments over the seat surfaces narrow the space in the roof area of the passenger cabin, further enhancing the undesired “tunnel effect” in the aircraft. In addition, it takes longer to board and disembark, since the luggage compartments can practically only be loaded and unloaded from the aisles of the passenger cabin, which are then largely blocked.
There is a demand for types of accommodation alternative to the hat racks in which passengers can stow their carry on luggage or portions thereof.